Snoqualmie mayor proposes levy lid lift to close $3.4M budget gap; council schedules July 29 community meeting

Mayor opened a special Snoqualmie City Council meeting at 5:00 p.m. on July 22 with a staff presentation on the proposed 2027–2028 biennial budget, identifying a $3,400,000 gap that staff attributed primarily to the loss of North Bend cost-sharing and general inflation.

The mayor said the recommended option is to ask voters for a levy lid lift that would provide an initial $3.4 million “bump,” then index the levy to the King County consumer price index for 10 years. “If you do the 3,400,000 bump and if the voters say yes, you see the green is the revenues then over the 10 years,” the mayor said during the presentation. He and staff walked council through department service levels, citing police response-time targets, fire turnout and the costs of parks and facility maintenance.

Why it matters: staff told the council that restoring 2019 staffing and selected new positions would require the additional funds to maintain current services, and that without new ongoing revenue the city must cut services or further reduce positions. The presentation showed that property-tax revenue is constrained by the state 1% cap and that Snoqualmie has seen real declines in inflation-adjusted property-tax buying power since 2019.

Details of the proposal and projected household impact: the staff-recommended midline budget would be supported by a levy of $2.16 per $1,000 of assessed value (an increase of roughly 60¢ per $1,000). The presentation projected that on a median Snoqualmie home value of about $1,000,000 the early-year impact is roughly $49 per month. The staff also listed other options that would raise revenue more modestly (public-safety sales tax, utility tax increases, B&O changes, and moving some capital funding to operations) but cautioned that shifting more than about $600,000 from capital undermines street and parks renewal programs.

Council reaction and questions: several council members pressed staff for more detail on the headcount changes, the assumptions behind the 10-year projection and the consequences of indexing the levy to CPI rather than leaving the 1% cap. Council member Tessman asked whether CPI-U or CPI-W should be used; staff said CPI-W is used in the city’s labor contracts but that either metric tends to move similarly over multi-year horizons. Council member Cotton emphasized local affordability concerns and cited rises in use of the Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank as context for tax sensitivity.

Procedural note and vote: Council member Holloway moved to open immediate council discussion on the budget presentation. After conflicting voice counts, the mayor called a roll call. The roll call recorded three ayes (Wotton, Holloway, Cotton) and four nays (Murphy, Washington, Tessman, Johnson), and the mayor declared the motion failed.

Public outreach: staff said slides and materials will be posted and offered to hold a community meeting on Wednesday, July 29, at the YMCA on the Ridge to present the proposal and gather resident feedback before the August 4 resolution deadline for placing measures on the ballot. The council did not take a final vote on placing the lid lift on the ballot at this meeting; the mayor and staff encouraged further analysis and neighborhood outreach.

What happens next: staff committed to provide more granular breakdowns (FTE impacts by fund, the revenue assumptions behind the projected growth, and detail on specific line items like police services and training). The council set a July 29 community meeting and signaled additional deliberations at upcoming council meetings before any decision to place the levy before voters.

Ending: the council adjourned at 7:30 p.m.